Shrine on Benediction
by Rattraveller
Summary: An account of some of the Imperial Guardsman during the Battle for Benediction from Psychic Awaken


SHRINE ON BENEDICTION

12/11/2019

For more than a Hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. His is the Master of Mankind by the Will of the Gods and Master of a Million Worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is the rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium, for whom a thousand souls die every day, for whom blood is drunk and flesh is eaten.

Human blood and Human flesh-The stuff of which the Imperium is made.

To be alive in such times is to be one amongst untold trillions and trillions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable; this is a tale of those times.

The last survivors of Alpha Company, Third Battalion of the 28th Ghreddask Infantry Regiment had been running for hours through the dark. None of them could keep up the pace any longer. Sergeant Gideon Masters hoped they had eluded their pursuers but he knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught and finished off. Seeing a small shrine he signaled them to slow down and follow him in.

The night had been pitch dark all during their run but the shrine's white marble interior glowed with barely enough light for them to see where to take up positions. Still panting as he took a knee and cradled his lasgun to his chest in the center of the shrine. He gave the interior a quick size up and then signaled two of his guardsmen to watch the door and one each to watch the only two windows. Everyone remained silent to try and hear their pursuers over their heavy breathing.

Sergeant Masters' mind took him back to where all of this had started. The 28th Ghreddask Infantry Regiment along with many other Ghreddask Regiments had been stationed on the Shrine World of Benediction. This was supposed to have been a reward because of the regiments' great faith in the God Emperor they had shown over the decades. At first their duties had been mostly guard and police, looking for signs of corruption among the millions of the faithful who made the pilgrimage to Benediction to demonstrate their faith in the God Emperor by worshipping at the thousands of temples, shrines, and tombs of the saints located on the planet.

When the forces of Chaos began their invasion of the planet it was not from space. A Chaos cult known as Cult of Loss rose up from the population of supposedly loyal natives of Benediction. They had been cut off from the main defense taking place at the Grand Honorificum of Benediction by these forces. This did not stop Alpha Company from doing their duty. They started performing hit and run raids on the Cult of Loss supply depots, ambushing any group they could find, laying traps and doing anything else they could do to inflict injury on these heretics and traitors.

Now after weeks of fighting their numbers had dwindled down. Any wounded had to be given the Emperor's mercy if they could not keep up. Often, the wounded willingly gave up all their weapons except for one grenade to take some of the enemy with them. Alpha Company must have been doing some real damage to the heretics which were why tonight's raid had gone so wrong. It started off as usual; they staked out a road and waited for a convoy headed toward the front-line defenses around Benediction city. After they had killed another fifty Cult of Loss and were searching them for supplies, then they had been ambushed by a single squad of Heretic Space Marines. The slaughter had been great.

Sergeant Masters relived the image of those five seven-foot-tall, red power armor clad nightmares of the Word Bearers legion, flashed in his mind he automatically started to recite a prayer to the God Emperor to banish their unholy memory.

Only five of them had reduced Alpha Company from thirty living souls to five in fewer than three minutes. He had gathered the survivors and had just fled. No idea where they were going, they all had just run until they found themselves here. Wherever here was. Now he realized he didn't even know who was with him, everything had happened so fast.

Deciding they had been listening for long enough Sergeant Masters called out, "Everyone sound off with name, ammo status and wounds."

"Albright, three power packs, no grenades, no wounds." She was at the east facing window so went first, since her was position closest to the twelve o'clock,

"Flowers, two power packs, one frag grenade, no wounds but my lasgun's machine spirit is acting up think. It needs some reassuring prayers."

"Martin, two power packs, no wounds, no grenades, the cut on my shoulder is bothering me."

"Lane, three power packs, no grenades, I still have my knife and I could use a shower and some breakfast."

Everyone let out slight chuckle, but it only lasted a moment and then back to the business. Sergeant Masters felt they were not that bad off; he did worry about Martin's shoulder. He must have opened the stitches as they fled.

He summed up things for them and said, "I am afraid this is it. The Word Bearers won't give up on finishing us off; they are probably watching us now. Everyone keep any eye out and if the Emperor blesses our aim, we might take one or two of them with us before it's over."

By the regiment's long tradition, they all answered him, "Praise the Emperor."

Silence fell on them then. There was nothing any of them could say or do but watch. Dawn was still an hour away so they could not see very far. Sergeant Master's knelt in the middle of the group and trying to come up with a plan if they did last that long even though he did not hold out much hope.

After another few minutes Lane broke the silence and said, "Sergeant since we are going to die here can you tell us where here is?"

Sergeant Masters came back to the now and reached for his red lense torch, about the only other piece of equipment besides his lasgun that still worked. He knew the stone building was a shrine to some minor saint of the God Emperor by its basic layout. There were hundreds of thousands of them on Benediction. Over the years they had been stationed on this planet his regiment had done everything from clean and repair them to assisting in full dress ceremonies for those that the shrines venerated.

He said, "Stay on watch, I'll look around."

Turning the torch to the wall without a window, the first thing he saw was a sarcophagus. It struck him then, they weren't in a shrine but a mausoleum. This wasn't a great shock; there were hundreds of other mausoleums on planet. Of all the places to seek shelter for their final stand he wondered if it could be a sign from the Emperor they would die well in a place a saint was entombed.

Shining the torch around a little more he could see there were a banner and a sword in a statis field behind the sarcophagus. There was also a pair of bronze plaques on either side of the statis field. Moving to the first one he could just make out the High Gothic writing. Reading the first couple of lines he thought this could inspire what was left of his guardsmen.

He said, "Give the Emperor your praise and listen to this, here lies the Saint Silas Yashmar born on Benediction but died far from home spreading the Light of the Emperor."

They all said, "Praise the Emperor."

Albright didn't turn from the window as she said, "So we wandered into a grave. Is there room in there for all of us?"

While the others laughed, Flowers ignored her and said, "What did our host do that they brought his body back here?"

Sergeant Masters took a moment to read more of the plaques to summarize them for everyone. They could not see the shocked expression on his faith but could hear it in his voice as he said, "By the Emperor you are not going to believe this. Saint Silas Yashmar was killed fighting the Word Bearers."

None of the others could give the standard reply. All of them thought this could not be a coincidence. Sergeant Masters told them, "He was on Hadchi Prime. The battle took place over 3,000 years ago. Saint Yashmar was traveling the galaxy spreading the truth of the Emperor. He was on Hadchi Prime preaching to the masses when the Word Bearers arrived along with a Chaos cult called Death Awakens. The cultists threw themselves at the Imperial Guard and were wearing them down. The Word Bearers knew that once the cultists had worn out the Imperial Guard then they would break through and begin a slaughter of everyone on the planet."

Pausing there he thought how the Word Bearers had not changed their tactics from when those ancient words were written. Even now the Cult of Loss was throwing their lives away so the very same Word Bearers could conquer this world."

Flowers broke his thoughts and said, "How did the saint stop them?"

Sergeant Masters shook his head and continued, "He rallied the citizens to take up arms and fight for the Emperor He then led thousands of common citizens against the Death Awakens. He walked in front of them carrying this banner in one hand and this sword in the other. Witnesses said the sword glowed with the Emperor's light. By his example they took to the battlefield and overwhelmed the cultists. Then they carried the attack to the Word Bearers. As they closed on the enemy, a Word Bearer Dark Apostle named Benur Teymak attacked the Saint to try and stop the citizen army. The two locked in combat for several minutes until Saint Silas Yashmar realized he could not beat the Dark Apostle with strength of arms only with strength of faith. He dropped his sword and raised the banner up high. The Dark Apostle cut him down. Instead of fleeing in terror, the citizens charged forward and even though dozens were cut down with Saint Silas hundreds more came on and trampled the Dark Apostle to death. The rest of the Word Bearers fled the planet. After the battle was over, they recovered his body and insisted it be returned to Benediction. This is the place the village he was born in once stood."

The other four said, "Praise the Emperor."

Sergeant Masters added his own "Praise the Emperor" and they all fell silent again.

The boltgun shot grazed Sergeant Masters in the hip, knocking him down. Dropping his torch he put one hand on his wound and grabbed his lasgun with the other. Then the pain hit him like a tidal wave and kept him from doing anything for the moment but watch.

Two giants in red power armor charged through the door and spread out. Flowers and Martin were knocked down by the first two Word Bearers and then two more came in the door shot them with bolt pistols. Even as Albright and Lane turned to fire, the first two reached them. Albright was cut down by a blow from a chainfist, her blood covering the inside of the mausoleum.

In front of Lane, the Word Bearer raised an oversized power fist to smash the life out of guardsman. Acting on instinct, Sergeant Masters raised his lasgun in one hand and fired. Its beam blinded him for a moment. When he could see again, Lane was still alive. His shot hit the Word Bearer in the weak spot in his power armor, the joint under his arm.

As heretic Space Marine fell to the ground dead, Sergeant Masters let out "Praise the Emperor."

A deep voice came from the mausoleum door and said, "We served the Emperor once until we knelt in the ashes of Monarchia. There the Emperor himself denied his godhood. You waste your breath praising him."

The three remaining Word Bearers said in unison, "Hail the True Gods."

A shot rang out and Lane joined the others in death.

Sergeant Masters looked at the fallen body of Lane and then to the door. In the dim light he saw another Word Bearer entered the mausoleum. He could only make out his outline but thought this one to be the leader because of his words. As he stepped into the dim light, Sergeant Masters could see his armor was more elaborate and there were several of the mockery of purity seals made of human skin on his armor. He carried a bolt pistol in one hand and a chainaxe in the other.

Now the Word Bearer Sergeant ignored Sergeant Masters as he continued to bleed out, the Word Bearer Sergeant said, "One of our brothers has fallen."

Again, the others said in unison, "He serves the True Gods, he will never die."

The Word Bearers Sergeant said, "True brothers true, we have battled the misled servants of the False God Emperor for 11,000 years and we will continue to fight until all have seen the truth."

All of them then said, "Hail the True Gods."

Standing over Sergeant Masters he addressed him again and said, "You have taken one from us, but we are merciful. You are dying and will be lost to the True Gods, but you can be saved. Swear yourself to the True Gods. They will embrace you and uplift you. What say you? Will you die for the False God Emperor who himself denied his divinity in front of us or will you except the gifts of the True Gods?"

Sergeant Masters felt himself slowly fading until he heard those words spoken. A fire lit inside him. Looking up at the Word Bearer Sergeant he said, "I will never leave the God Emperor's light and he will never forsake me. He will avenge all of us who serve him."

The Word Bearer Sergeant raised his chainaxe and was about to say something when the inside of the mausoleum began to glow.

Sergeant Masters could tell the source of the light was behind him. The Word Bearer shielded their eye as the light intensified until the interior of the mausoleum shone like the brightest day. Then four beams of light lashed out and struck each of the Word Bearers. They did not fall. There now empty suits of power armor remained where they had stood as their weapons clanged to the floor.

As Sergeant Masters opened his eyes and looked up to see a glowing figure floating in front of him. It appeared to be dressed in robes of an ancient design of the Priesthood of the God Emperor. The face that looked down on him was stern, but he could see the caring it contained also. Then the face changed. Now it was Lane's smiling face. It changed again and was Albright's all business face and then Flower's stolid face and then Martin's smiling face.

Sergeant Master's closed his eyes and let his breath out saying, "Praise the Emperor."

After a moment the glowing figure merged itself with the body of Sergeant Masters. Standing up it let the lasgun fall to the floor as it walked over to the statis field and shut it off. It reached in and took out the sword and the banner of the God Emperor. All three, former Sergeant, sword and banner begin to glow. Turning around it left the mausoleum and headed off to the Grand Honorificum to rejoin the fight.


End file.
